The scuttlebutt was that there were some strangers in a Newark neighborhood who were about to open an office in a storefront on Fleming Avenue.

Roger Leon, the current superintendent of Newark public schools, was 12 years old in the late 1980s, wondering how this group of folks, already known as the Ironbound Community Corporation, was going to help his Ironbound neighborhood.

“They talked about the soul of humanity, how it doesn’t look like any color," Leon said. “That our responsibility was to serve people, to care about people."

What the young Leon didn’t realize then is that this belief system, which eventually impacted his life, had already been growing roots since 1969.

ICC began with a group of mothers in need of childcare for their families who were primarily black, ethnic whites and Portuguese. They joined forces with activists and lobbied the state to fund a neighborhood preschool, reminding legislators that its neighborhood was deserving of this essential service.

“There was strength in numbers, and despite their racial differences, they were all in the same boat," said ICC Executive Director Joseph Della Fave.

ICC’s strength has not dissipated for the last 50 years -- a milestone anniversary the grassroots organization celebrates Thursday at the Robert Treat Hotel.

Who knew? From that pre-school – the Ironbound Children’s Center – ICC would amass a cache of programs that have touched some 100,000 people in nearly every aspect of their lives.

Early childhood education has been an ICC staple, but the organization’s arms also brought residents into financial literacy, employment and job training, housing and tax preparation. Parents have learned how to be better parents, and others received domestic violence counseling. There are after school and summer programs and adult education courses. With community partners, ICC has built affordable homes and provided nearly a million meals on wheels. Some 30,000 seniors received medical rides while community gardens sprouted on empty lots.

Children at the Ironbound Community Corporation's early learning center participate in a class activity. The grass roots organization is celebrating 50 years of serving the community.Ironbound Community Corporation

“The heart of our work is around direct services like early learning that supports people and gives them a better opportunity to succeed in life," Della Fave said. “The soul of the organization is around organizing."

ICC has been out there for the last five decades, leading campaigns to keep firehouses open, clean up toxic sites and develop open space in Riverfront Park along the Passaic River. It has fought to keep residents from having their public housing demolished at Terrell Homes and continues to protest against the construction of incinerators. Even now, ICC would like to see the local incinerator in Newark shutdown.

ICC’s environmental advocacy not only protects the community, but it helps to ensure that children in its programs have an opportunity to get a quality education. ICC has an environmental justice advocacy department known internationally for its work to clean industrially polluted areas of Newark. A quality education and healthy environment go hand in hand.

“Our kids are going to kindergarten eager and ready to learn, but if the quality of our air is so polluted, they’re out of school for a couple of days," Della Fave said. “It’s like taking a few steps forward and a few steps behind."

The organization, however, never settled for less. After funding for the preschool in 1969, ICC parents started an alternative elementary school in 1973 that lasted for 15 years. It’s childhood center continued to flourish, serving more than 200 children from birth to age five, earning national accreditation in 1988.

That status hasn’t ended. Della Fave said ICC’s Early Learning Center is a national model for early childhood education and is often visited by delegations from across the country.

While many may equate ICC to environmental causes, early childhood education is its largest program and 90% of the organization’s budget goes towards programs and services that help families.

Should someone follow its lead, well, that’s a bonus, too.

Zee Oliveira, an Ironbound resident for 45 years, has been an ICC disciple since 1991. Back then, she was a student teacher in its early childhood program, a requirement for a college class since she was considering education as a career. Oliveira only had to teach a few months, but she stayed with the program several years because she loved working with the children, seeing their eyes light up with excitement.

When Oliveira became a parent, her three daughters were early childhood students, and she continued to support ICC, teaching English as a second language at night. The ICC experience stuck.

She is now program coordinator for the Ironbound Boys & Girls Club.

“The one thing I learned is that every time I turned around, ICC was helping somebody else," Oliveira said. “They got me into wanting to give back."

So, the people who came in and stayed really weren’t strangers, after all, for Leon, who said ICC’s influence has been enduring. The organization sent him to camp. When he became teacher at Hawkins Street School, ICC awarded him a $500 grant for an environmental project with his students. As an administrator, he served on its board.

The strangers, he said, were good people trying to help other good people be better.

“That’s what ICC was doing," Leon said.

And, they’ll continue to do it for another 50 years and beyond.

Ironbound residents in Newark protest a garbage dumping issue in their communityIronbound Community Corporation